Apart from being enjoyable and enriching the soul, music has a story. While many of our psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs are familiar and well-worn, there are still stories to be told about where our music comes from and why it matters. This fall I (Mitchell) delighted in taking my church on a journey through … More Songs of Joy and Contemplation: Amazing Grace

In our studies on the parables of Jesus, I’ve been struck by how often the parables talk about money and economics. Perhaps, though, as Jesus’ teachings tended to make people upset, it’s not that surprising: nothing quite gets people as upset as challenging them about money, power, and their self-importance. The parable of the laborers … More So maybe it is about economics?

A recent study highlights how the lower the percentage of other females in your (STEM) cohort the greater the chance that female students will drop out of their program. Katie Langin highlights this study and looks at the experience of different females to understand better what effect having female peers has and how one can … More Support and your Cohort

NPR recently published an article about moral distress among veterinarians. The author, Carey Goldberg, highlights a study “published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine about “moral distress” among veterinarians. The survey of more than 800 vets found that most feel ethical qualms — at least sometimes — about what pet owners ask them to do. And that … More Moral Distress among Veterinarians

Christian Courier recently published an article by Meghan Kort on how to love the grad student in your life. She begins by explaining a bit about the mental health challenges of grad school and then provides wisdom about “how churches, families, and friends can show more love when we encounter stressed-out grad students in our lives. … More Loving the grad student in your life

Beth Godbee, in her article in Inside Higher Ed talks about leaving – or staying – in academia for the right reasons. While she has now decided, post-tenure, to leave academia, she talks also about how and why it can be good to stay: I remember conversations with an amazing counselor who really understood the … More Academia: staying (or leaving) for the right reasons

The following are a few resources to help people understand how much of a dichotomy there is between science and religion (especially regarding the formation of the world). Nautilus provides a digital comic discussing whether religious people really have a problem with evolution through providing an overview of a project ‘exploring the spectrum’ of views … More Evolution and Creation Resources

America recently published an article about why teens are leaving the church. In that article, Dinges highlights that, according to two recent reports looking at young people’s church relationship to church, one of the reasons young people give for leaving the church is related to science (or reason). Yet, Dinges, points out that it might … More Leaving the church over (bad views of) science?

As we often talk about justice in our studies, I am thankful that Campus Edge is connected to a denomination that cares deeply about speaking up for the marginalized. The Christian Reformed Church recently released an official statement about (the lack of) admission of refugees to the United States. The following are highlights of that statement: … More Advocating for Refugees

Heather Dubrow at Inside Higher Ed recently wrote a poem describing grad school using farming metaphors. The metaphors of diversifying crops, nutritional value, and efforts bearing fruit are helpful for understanding how complicated academia (and grad school) can be. Below are several excerpts from the poem: Orange Harvest Moon A field exuberantly growing careers that will be … More Farming metaphors for grad school